Would That I Were There This Minute Poem by Francis Duggan

Would that I were there this minute in that green park by the sea
Lying in the soft grass of Summer with the warm sunshine on me
Where the shrike thrush and the magpie lark are singing all through the day
In that place near to Utopia from here not that far away.

I fancy that I smell the sea air the salty spray blowing in the breeze
the distinctive harsh calls of the wattlebirds on the flowering banksia trees
Away from polluted Suburbia from the noisy traffic clogged street
Out where the silver gulls are mewing where the land and saltwater meet.

In this human hive of tar and cement smell of pollution in the air
Yet often in my flights of fancy I visualize I am elsewhere
I can hear and see the big waves rolling tossing up white suds of spray
Near where the butcherbird pipes on the wattle in his cloak of dark brown and gray.

Would that I were there this minute under the sunny and clear coastal sky
To visualize such a memory is like a fresh breath of joy
Far from the noise of the traffic that's where I yearn to be
And though I smell the urban pollution I hear the call of the sea.